Short answer
If your manager is unresponsive, you’re not trapped — but you exit through a defined process, not a phone call. In NSW the owners corporation ends the appointment by ordinary resolution at a general meeting (the strata committee can’t do it alone), within the manager’s contract term and the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015. You then either appoint a replacement or move the scheme to self-management.
Step 1 — check the agreement and its term
Read the management agreement and find the appointment’s term. Under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) a strata managing agent’s appointment is capped: it expires at 12 months if the agent was appointed at the first AGM, or 3 years in any other case. Knowing where you are in that term tells you whether you’re near a natural end or ending it early.
Step 2 — the general-meeting vote
A manager can only be appointed or terminated by an ordinary resolution at a general meeting of the owners corporation — not at a committee meeting. Put the motion on the next AGM agenda, or requisition an extraordinary general meeting (EGM). If it passes on a simple majority, the appointment is terminated in line with the instrument of appointment.
Step 3 — notice and handover
Written notice goes to the outgoing agent, and the scheme’s records, funds and documents must be handed over so the new arrangement can pick up cleanly. The exact notice period and handover obligations come from the agreement and the Act — confirm them before you vote so nothing stalls.
Step 4 — decide what’s next
Terminating is only half the decision. The scheme still needs its administration run — by a new manager, or by self-managing. Self-managing doesn’t mean drowning in the work: a system such as Straita does it — levies, meetings, key dates, compliance, records and money — while the committee just approves the decisions.
Primary sources
- Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) — appointment of a strata managing agent (s 49); term, extension and termination of the appointment (s 50).
- NSW Government — Strata schemes (Fair Trading) — general meetings, notice and managing agents.